Don't Forget, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Gergesite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. God, remember this. I'm going to go before you. God says, I don't care how many eights are in the land. You say, I don't care.

I'm going to go before you. And you need not to forget that, because what happens? Why do we worry? Why do we have the anxiety?

Because we forget it. How am I going to deal with this? How am I going to cope with this? I don't see an answer to this.

I don't know how I'm going to work myself through this. God says, Look, the first thing you have to remember is that I'm going to go before you. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. I don't know if you've noticed this. Maybe you haven't, maybe you haven't. But life can be stressful. How often have you said, Well, I've had a tough day. I really had a difficult week. I got a lot on my plate. I can't stop thinking about that.

Whatever it is, you just start cycling. We can fill our lives with all kinds of worry. We can worry about the economy, our business, our investments. You can worry about all the possible diseases you can get. I just read this week that your credit card has more germs on it than a urinal. That might make some of you worry. Think of all the different ways you could die. You worry about that. Why doesn't someone so like me? You ever worry about that? I don't get it.

Why? And yet as Christians, we know that we're to live a life filled with joy and peace and hope. And often the life we get is a life of anxiety and worry. And even when we do experience the peace, a new situation arises and we fall right back into anxiety again. And I don't know about you, but I know for me, I'm really grateful that God is so patient with me. But I have to ask myself and I'm asking you to ask yourself, what are you doing or what are you not doing that is producing this kind of anxiety and worry in your life, rather than the peace and the joy and the hope of the abundant life? Three weeks ago, we started a series out of the Book of Joshua and said there are life lessons we can learn in the Book of Joshua.

And we can certainly learn some lessons today about how we should approach our lives. I'd invite you to open your Bibles to Joshua Chapter three, Joshua Chapter three. We're now at the stage in Joshua. Where they're about to enter the promised land.

And you have to understand this has been a long time coming. They've spent 40 years. Waiting to go into the promised land. They're right on the banks of the Jordan. They're ready to go in.

And what's amazing is that a lot of the people that are in this group of two million are young people less than 40 years of age. They only know life in the wilderness for them. All they hear is God has given us this promised land. We're going to go in for them. It must be like a small child is whenever Christmas is coming.

You start in about November and you think about it every day. I can't wait. I can't wait.

I can't wait. And they're right there. They're ready to go in to the land. But before they do, God says there's something I really got to get across to you. There's something very important.

If you're going to go into the promised land. You've got to remember some things. I don't want you to forget some things. There's things that are so important, whether or not you're ever going to go into the promised land. You need not to forget.

You need to remember. And he gives us three of them here in these chapters. Notice these first five verses. Joshua rose early in the morning and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan and they lodged there before they crossed. And it came about at the end of three days that the officers went through the midst of the camp and they commanded the people and said, When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with a Levitical priest carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

However, there shall be between you and it a distance of two thousand cubits by measure. You can't get closer than a thousand yards of the ark. The ark is going to go into the Jordan first, but you can't get closer than a thousand yards, emphasizing the holiness of God. He says, Do not come near it that you may know the way by which you go, for you have not passed this way before. And then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.

The Lord will do wonders among you. The most important part of those first few verses is he says, look, before you go, the Ark of the Covenant has to go. The Ark of the Covenant is going to go into the Jordan first.

It's a rectangular box. In it, you find unspoiled manna, what they ate in the wilderness. You find Aaron's rod that butted. You find the stone tablets of the law. And on top of it, you have this solid gold mercy seat where once a year the high priest would sprinkle blood on it to signify the mercy of God.

And on top of that mercy seat, two cherubim on each side of it. What was the point of the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark of the Covenant is to emphasize the presence of God. That's why only the high priest and only once a year.

What's interesting about it is that the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned nine times in Chapter three, seven times in Chapter four. God says, look, you've got to understand something here. Don't forget, he said, I always go before you. Always. I always go before you. That's what God's point is.

He's reminding Israel that he reminds us of that. I'm going to go before you. I'm going to go first. You have to remember that. And if you think about it, what ends up happening to us is that we keep thinking, how am I going to get through this? How am I going to cope with this?

How am I going to deal with this? And God says, look, you've got to remember, I'm going to go before you. I always go before you.

I mean, you think about that. Think of the New Testament. How many times does Jesus say the same thing to everybody? Get going. He doesn't.

What does he say? Follow me. Just follow me. I'll go before you. You see, that's the idea. Psalm 23, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil.

Why? Well, you're right with me. God says, don't forget that I go before you go. He said, that's an extremely important thing. The Lord is in front of every successful spiritual enterprise that we have. He then says, and Joshua spoke to the priest and said, take up the Ark of the Covenant and cross over ahead of the people. And so they took up the Ark of the Covenant and they went ahead of the people. And now the Lord said to Joshua this day, I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel that they may know, just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. You shall, moreover, command the priest who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant, saying, and when you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord. And Joshua said, by this you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will assurely dispossess from before you, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Gergesite, the Amorite and the Jebusite.

God, remember this. I'm going to go before you. God says, I don't care how many ites are in the land. You say, I don't care.

I'm going to go before you. And you need not to forget that, because what happens? Why do we worry? Why do we have the anxiety?

Because we forget it. How am I going to deal with this? How am I going to cope with this? I don't see an answer to this.

I don't know how I'm going to work myself through this. God says, look, the first thing you have to remember is that I'm going to go before you. It then says in verse 12, Now then, take yourselves 12 men from the 12 tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. Now, what's interesting about this is he says, then it shall come about that he says, when the soles of your feet of the priest who carry the ark, the lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan. The waters of the Jordan shall be cut off and the waters which are flowing down from above shall stand in one heap. So it came about when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priest carrying the Ark of the Covenant before the people. And when those who carry the ark came into the Jordan, the feet of the priest carrying the ark were dipped to the edge of the water. And then this quote, For the Jordan overflows all its banks, all the days of the harvest. What?

Yeah. See, normally, right here, the Jordan's about 30 to 40 yards wide. That's normal. And it's normally about four to six feet deep. Now, you've got two million people to cross.

It's still an effort. But that's the normal way it is. This is not normal. This is harvest time. This is the spring. The Jordan at this stage in front of Jericho at this time is about a mile wide. And it's flowing fast. Now, if you were in Israel, you'd say, wait, God, you could have picked any time of year and you picked the flood season? It's a mile wide. I mean, look at the look at the length of the Mississippi River. Just imagine two million people have to cross the Jordan.

Old people, young people, babies, diseased people, handicapped people. Everybody's going to cross. So you look at it and say, what are we going to do?

How's this going to work? God says, I told you, I'm going before you. Notice as he picks up the story, then he says, verse 16, that the waters which were flowing down from the stood in a rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city. He said that is beside Zarethon and those which were flowing down toward the Sea of Arabah, the salt sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite to Jericho.

If you read those cities and did your the geography. God shut the Jordan off 18 miles upstream. Not just right, 18 miles upstream. He shut it off. That's an amazing it's an amazing thing. God said, look, I tried to tell you this. I'm going before you. That's what the Ark of the Covenant is.

I've told you not to forget this. It says, and the priest who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the nation had finished crossing the Jordan. Like a highway. He didn't say it was muddy. You see, he didn't say it was difficult. He says, just like dry ground, just go across.

It's just like the wilderness. God says, look, you need to remember something. I always go before you.

You see, you have to understand that I go before you. Don't forget that. And that's exactly what we do when we start really worrying and jeopardizing about something. We forget that completely. And we said, what are we going to do now?

How am I going to handle it now? Whatever is bothering you. Whatever it is that gets your thought life going. Don't forget that. There's something else that he tells us in these first six verses of chapter four. Don't forget what I've already done for you.

Well, we do this all the time. Don't forget what I've already done for you. See, I think of how much the Lord's done for you.

How do I know? You're here. You see, you're here.

You might not be here, but you're here. You have a history with God. You see, and he says, don't forget what I've already done for you. He says, and it came about when all the nation had crossed. He said the crossing of the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua and said, take up for yourselves 12 men from the people, one man from each tribe and command them, saying, take up for yourselves 12 stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests feet are standing firm and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight. And so Joshua gets the 12 men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, cross again. He said to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each one of you take up a stone on a shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

Let this, he said, be a sign to you. He said that when your children ask later, what are these stones mean? Then you will say to them, because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it was crossed and the waters of the Jordan were cut off. See, these stones shall be a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.

See, it might seem like a dumb thing. They're already across. He says, take one man from each tribe, go to the middle. In the middle, you'll see some big stones. It must be, you've got to put it in your shoulder, put a stone in your shoulder, walk to the shore where you're going to camp and make a memorial. But you need to remember what God's done. And so when your children ask, well, I don't know, God's not working.

Do you sure God will work in your life? Son, look at the stones. Look at the memorial. He said, when you see that, you're going to see that it's a very different kind of thing. You see, God is much more concerned about something than we think when we read Joshua. The Book of Joshua is not about real estate.

It's not about God saying, there's the land, that land's yours, go get the land. That's not what the Book of Joshua is about. The Book of Joshua is about what's really going on.

The Book of Joshua is about a spiritual dimension to all this. You see, the real enemy of Israel are not theites. Theites are victims of the enemy. The real enemy of Israel is Lucifer.

That's the real enemy. You see, and what he did, he said, look, I'm going to stop Israel from ever getting to the promised land. So Lucifer filled the land with ites. And all of the ites, every one of them, are about as evil and pagan as can be and warlike. And he said, I'll make this a very evil haven of warlike people so Israel can't get in the land.

His second strategy was, I'll tell you what else I'll do. I'll discourage Israel. You see, I'll discourage them so much that they won't even try to get in the land. And that happened 40 years earlier when they said the 10 out of the 12 spies and only Caleb and Joshua said, let's go. And the others said, we can't. They're too tough for us. We can't follow God. And they spent 40 years in the wilderness.

That's the case for you and me. You can hold your place there, but go with me to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six and verse 12. Paul writing to the Church of Ephesus. And he says something that's very important for us. He said, for our struggle, isn't that a description of life? He said, our struggle was not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and against powers and against world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. We think that people are our struggle.

But they're not. They can only be victims of where the real struggle is. You see, the real struggle is spiritual. Paul says that's what the real struggle of life is. We have a real enemy, you see, and he's going to do everything he can to make our life as bad as it can possibly be.

Listen to his rap sheet. First Chronicles 21, Satan incited David. Luke 22, Satan has asked to sift you, Simon, like wheat. John 13, the devil persuaded Judas Iscariot to turn against Jesus. Luke 13, this woman Satan has kept bound for 18 long years. Second Corinthians 4, for Satan has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

And as a result, they don't see the light of the good news. In Ephesians 2, he rules this world and his spirit has power over everyone who does not obey God. Satan insights, sifts, persuades, binds, blinds and rules. He has one objective, Jesus said in John 10, to steal and to kill and to destroy. That's what he wants to do. He wants to discourage you in every possible way he can.

And you'll know if it's working on the basis of the anxiety and worry you have about a situation. Because he's getting to you. God says, look, don't do this. Don't do this. Remember, don't forget this. I go before you. And don't forget what I've done in the past. You see, don't forget that.

I'll show you a great illustration of that. Go with me now back to 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17.

Now, you know the story. It's one of the most famous in the Bible. David and Goliath.

You learn it in Sunday school. It's probably one of the most preachable entire passages in the Old Testament. It's a great story. All of us face our own giants. All of us face our own Goliaths.

Everybody does. What's interesting about this is Goliath has been tormenting and taunting the armies of Israel. He starts on one side and they're on the other. But eventually he works his way down and starts working his way across. And he comes all the way to the bottom of the hill for them.

And they're more terrified than ever. Now, the logical person who should take on Goliath is Saul. He's the king.

He's the tallest. You see, he should be able to defend his people. But he's terrified as well. So he has an encounter with David. And David says, Let me at him. Now, David's a teenager. Goliath is nine foot nine. David might not even be five foot nine. Okay?

He's just a kid. And Saul's like, How do you think you could do this? You know what David said? I remember.

What? Look at verses 34 and 35. It says, But David said to Saul, Your servant was tending his father's sheep, when a lion or a bear came and took the lamb from the flock. And I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he arose up against me, I seized him by his beard, I struck him and I killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. He remembered.

Goliath is formidable, but take a typical teenage boy. What are his chances with a lion or a bear in the wilderness by himself? David said, I got them both. Not only that, I rescued the sheep. He didn't get the sheep. I went and took the sheep off him. He rose up against me and then I killed him. David says, I remember that.

If God delivered me from the lion and the bear, what's this uncircumcised Philistine going to do to me? He remembers. See, do you do that? If you look at all the things that have happened in your life, do you look back and see God's hand on your life?

And if God did that, you see, do you remember it? Or do you forget it completely? You see, he says, don't forget that.

Whatever you do, don't forget. Just watch. You know the story. They do a lot of trash talking back and forth, you know, from that point of view, and then they rush each other and David takes a sling, hits Goliath in the forehead, and down he goes. David goes over and picks up Goliath's sword, which is probably much taller than he is, and with a two-handed baseball swing, he beheads the giant.

He cuts it off. That gets everybody in Israel's camp all excited. They go and attack the Philistines. The Philistines go in total route.

They start running. But I want you to see now what happens at the end of this all. Verse 54, it says, Then David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

Why? Now, this is a head. I mean, it's kind of gruesome, but this is a head. David, see, I'm going to take the head to Jerusalem, and there's going to be a little stand there, Goliath's head.

Tourists are going to come by and say, hey, look at that. That's Goliath's head. Why is he going to do that?

So they remember. Look at that head. You need to remember that. He said, but I want to tell you something else. I'm taking his weapons. Now, understand, Goliath's weapons are so enormous, there's a description. David can't use the weapons. He doesn't take them in his tent to use them. He takes them in his tent to remember. You see, when Saul is chasing them all through the wilderness, when his own son Absalom goes in rebellion against them, he looks at those weapons and says, God, you delivered me. You see, I'm not going to forget what you've done for me in the past.

You see, that's what God is telling the nation Israel. He's telling them, don't forget to remember what I've done for you in the past. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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